The Start of Glory: Oakland Raiders Training Camp Progress

After only one day of full-speed practice at the Oakland Raiders training camp in Napa Valley, you can already see and feel the excitement for this season. 

All the players are revved up and ready to go. The linemen are exploding off the snap, receivers and backs are running crisp routes, and the defense is giving every hard hit they can put in.

The team's star running back, Darren McFadden, has seemed very pleased with both his progress over the last few days of walkthroughs and warmups as well as the overall progression of the entire team. During practice, DMC said "there weren’t too many mental mistakes out there" overall, and he was ready for the rest of the camp.

Head Coach Tom Cable was also very excited about the team's performance and was particularly pleased with the defense on Monday. The biggest concerns seem to be coming from the Raider receiving corps. 

Javon Walker is still out of practice but is reportedly recovering very well from his offseason injury. The biggest issue has been with first-round pick Darrius Heyward-Bey so far. He has had a serious problem with dropped passes thus far, dropping several during plays where there was no other player near him.

Cable does not appear too worried about it, however, telling the press, "He is just pressing. You know, he just wants to impress you.” Darrius has shown a great mentality through this by continuing to shrug each drop off and preparing for the next pass. Perhaps this has been his greatest skill, other than his speed, to go into each play not worrying about the previous one and not allowing it to bring him down.

The entire team has been giving Darrius much support during the camp, especially cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha. He understands the struggles and kinks that come at the beginning of an NFL career, as he had them after he was drafted in 2003.

And of course, JaMarcus Russell has been using his rocket arm to seemingly flip his wrist for 50- and 60-yard bombs to his receivers. Russell has made great strides this offseason and is already showing signs of calmness that eluded him his first two seasons. Hopefully he will not become flustered during the season and lose his cool.